Category: Food For Thought

Hustle Culture

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As a society, we have been conditioned to believe that success is only achievable through hard work and hustle. We are constantly bombarded with messages that tell us to work harder, sleep less, and sacrifice our personal lives for the sake of our careers. This is what is known as hustle culture, and it has become a pervasive and toxic force in our lives.

Hustle culture is the idea that success is only achievable through constant hard work and sacrifice. It is the belief that if you are not working all the time, you are not doing enough. This mentality has been perpetuated by social media influencers, motivational speakers, and even some (or most) employers who encourage their employees to work long hours and sacrifice their personal lives for the sake of their careers.

The problem with hustle culture is that it is not sustainable. Working long hours and sacrificing your personal life can lead to burnout, stress, and physical and mental health problems. It can also lead to a lack of creativity and innovation, as people become too focused on their work and lose sight of the bigger picture.

So, should we stop idealizing hustle culture? I say hell yes to that!
Instead, we should focus on creating a culture that values work-life balance, creativity, and innovation. We should encourage people to prioritize their personal lives and take care of their physical and mental health.

Let’s work together to create a better, more sustainable, and more equitable future!

18 Inspirational Quotes On Beauty

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  1. “True beauty in an individual is reflected in their soul.” Audrey Hepburn
  2. “Take care of your inner spiritual beauty. That will reflect in your face.” Dolores del Rio
  3. “If only our eyes saw souls instead of bodies, how very different our ideals of beauty would be.” Anonymous
  4. “Beauty isn’t about having a pretty face. It is about having a pretty mind, a pretty heart, and most importantly a beautiful soul.” Anonymous
  5. “Real beauty is to be true to oneself.” Laetitia Casta
  6. “Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.” Confucius
  7. “People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.” Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
  8. “There is nothing more rare, nor more beautiful, than a woman being unapologetically herself; comfortable in her perfect imperfection. To me, that is the true essence of beauty.” Steve Maraboli
  9. “Beauty begins the moment you decide to be yourself.” Coco Chanel
  10. “Beauty is the opposite of perfection – it’s about confidence, charisma, and character.” Anonymous
  11. “Be your own kind of beautiful.” Anonymous
  12. “The best part of beauty is that which no picture can express.” Francis Bacon
  13. “That which is striking and beautiful is not always good, but that which is good is always beautiful.” Ninon de L’Enclos
  14. “To me, beauty is about being comfortable in your own skin. It’s about knowing and accepting who you are.” Ellen Degeneres
  15. “The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched – they must be felt with the heart.” Helen Keller
  16. “Beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart.” Kahlil Gibran
  17. “Beautiful has nothing to do with looks. It’s how you are as a person and how you make others feel about themselves.” Anonymous
  18. “Beauty is the radiance of your soul.” Asad Meah

 

What’s your favourite quote?

Love,
Hewnly

10 Reasons Why Travelling is Good for You

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In the cover picture, I am in front of the Met in New York, a place I wish to return one day to explore it more! It has always been my dream to travel the world. Why Travelling is Good for You? Here are 10 reasons:

  1. You Learn About Yourself
    💭 “A long stretch of road can teach you more about yourself than a hundred years of quiet .” Patrick Rothfuss
  2. You Improve Your Mind
    💭 “If you allow it, travel has the ability to expand your mind in a way you never realized was possible,” Trusted Travel Girl, Valerie Wilson.
  3.  It Strengthens Relationships 
    💭“The shared experience of travel brings people together. A family getaway, a romantic trip, or long weekend with the girls or guys can strengthen important bonds.” Betsy Goldberg

  4. Boosts happiness and satisfaction
    💭 “According to a Cornell University study, the anticipation of a trip can increase your happiness substantially, even more than the anticipation of acquiring something tangible, like a new car.” Riyaz Babu Shaik from Medium.com

  5. It Puts Life in Perspective
    💭 “Traveling to other countries, particularly those in the developing world, can be a big wake up call and put your own life in perspective. Things that you may take for granted, like having running hot water, modern appliances and the opportunity to study and get a well-paid job at the end of it are not available to everyone, purely because of where they were born. You’ll probably come away with a new appreciation for everything you have and the opportunities that life throws your way.”  buildabroad.org10-Reasons-Why-Travelling
  6. You Get More Social
    💭 “It’s sink or swim on the road. You either get better at making friends or you end up alone, crying each night into a pillow. You learn to make friends out of strangers and get more comfortable talking to new people.” Nomadic Matt
  7. You Won’t Regret You Didn’t Do Something or Never Visited a You Always Dreamed to See
     💭 “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.” Mark Twain
  8.  It’s an Investment in Yourself
    💭 “The money you spend on travel, is an investment in yourself. Travel doesn’t make you feel as bad for spending money.”
  9. It Increases Your Mental Wellbeing
    💭 “Travelling more is likely to have a tremendous impact on your mental well-being, especially if you’re no used to going out of your comfort zone.” The Claimcompass Blog
  10.  You’ll Have Incredible Adventures (and Stories to Tell)
    💭 “Whatever your initial expectations and travel plans are, it’s more than likely that you’ll have incredible adventures along the way that not even J.K. Rowling could write the script for. Sometimes it’s everyday encounters that dish up unimaginable experiences, or wild side trips that you take on a whim, but chances are you’ll be going home with a few tales to tell.” buildabroad.org

Which one is your favourite?

This year I made a promise to myself to go away as much as possible. And I did so – visitng Denmark, USA, France, Romania, Germany, Netherlands and Lithuania (a few times as my family lives there) this year. Might not seem like a lot to some but it felt to me like I’m always going somewhere! I loved it and I hope the next year will be just as eventful. Please visit my Instagram to see the visual diary of my travels. And my recent post about where to go for a great cocktail in Amsterdam.

What are your dream places to visit?

Love,
Justina

18 Best Travel Quotes to Inspire Your Wanderlust

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Travel. Inspiration. Adventure.

Who doesn’t love travel quotes?! I don’t know about you, but I love them. The other thing that I love is photography. This post is a collection of 18 of my favourite inspirational travel quotes as well as a few pictures I’ve taken on my adventures.

Ready for a little wanderlust-inspiring pick me up?

#1   “Please be a traveller, not a tourist. Try new things, meet new people, and look beyond what’s right in front of you. Those are the keys to understanding this amazing world we live in.” -Andrew Zimmern

#2    “Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.” -Miriam Beard

#3    “Everything I was I carry with me. Everything I will be lies waiting on the road ahead.” -Ma Jian

#4     “Not all those who wander are lost.” -J.R.R. Tolkien

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#5    “We travel for romance, we travel for architecture, and we travel to be lost.” -Ray Bradbury

#6    “The only thing that you can carry with you on your travels is your heart. Fill your heart with good things and good things will follow you for the rest of your life.” -Unknown

#7    “All you need to know is that it’s possible.” -Wolf, an Appalachian Trail Hiker

#8    “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” -Mark Twain

#9    “I’ll look back on this and smile because it was life and I decided to live it.”

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#10    “Jobs fill your pockets, but adventures fill your soul.” -Jaime Lyn

#11    “If happiness is the goal – and it should be, then adventures should be top priority.” -Richard Branson

#12    “We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.” -Jawaharial Nehru

#13    “Fill your life with adventures, not things. Have stories to tell not stuff to show.”

#14    “Go, fly, roam, travel, voyage, explore, journey, discover, adventure.”

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#15    “You can shake the sand from your shoes, but it will never leave your soul.”

#16    “The biggest adventure you can ever take is to live the life of your dreams.”

#17    “You don’t have to be rich to travel well.” -Eugene Fodor

#18    “People do not decide to become extraordinary. They decide to accomplish extraordinary things.” -Edmund Hillary

What are your favourite quotes? Let me know in the comments below!

Love,
Hewnly

 

5 Inspirational Instagram Accounts to Follow

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I can’t believe I haven’t done this post before – it’s one of my most favourite things to do when I feel down or demotivated and struggle to find some inspiration. I turn to a few trusted Instagram accounts that I know will help:

  1.  @onegoodquote
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  2.  @theclassypeople
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  3.  @rich.quote
    a6d33c27-bcb8-4add-b173-169e8c816687
  4.  @motiveleader
    62d7324d-2b93-4a78-9d09-c48bcf53f325
  5.  @successinspiration.ig
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Did you find some inspiration here? I hope you did!

Please share your favourite Instagram inspiration accounts in the comments below.

Love,
Hewnly

3 Daily Habits to Start in 2018

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Feel stuck in a routine or standstill? Can’t move forward with your goals?

It’s the little things you do that often determine success or failure.

 “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act, but a habit.” – Aristotle
Just like many, when the New Year starts I spend quite a bit of time contemplating what’s next for me, what have I achieved during the previous year and how would I like to better myself. I try to be as realistic and honest as possible – that is the only way this can work, the only way to improve and change your life, steer it in the direction of your choice.
It seems like not an easy task to change yourself. Trust me, I get you. Sometimes, you just gotta do it for you. And if you’re struggling to keep it all together then take a breath and start with this challenge outline of which I found on zenhabits.net :

How to Develop a Habit
Do a 30-day challenge, focusing on just ONE habit.

  • Write it out on paper, along with your motivations, obstacles, and strategies for overcoming them.
  • Commit fully, in a public way.
  • Log your progress.
  • Remain publicly accountable — report on your progress each day.
  • Have support for when you falter — either in real life or online.
  • Reward every little success.
  • If you fail, figure out what went wrong, plan for it, and try again.

Read full article here

Last year, one of the habits I vowed to myself to start is reading every day. Now, I have a book with me anywhere I go and read (mostly) on my commute which adds to about an hour a day. For then I can’t have a book with me or forget to put it in my bag, I have the Kindle app on my phone with a range of books already downloaded, just in case. Now I feel anxious if I don’t get to catch up on my reading! I try to read a different type of book every time. I alternate between non-fiction and fiction, self-help, historical novels, autobiographies,…

If you don’t read much or at all, this is probably the first habit I would recommend to pick up.

As Todd Henry writes in his article on inc.com:

You can’t draw water from an empty well. Do you take time each day to fill yours? The quality of input that you curate often determines the quality of your creative output. As Steve Jobs once quipped, “creativity is just connecting things”, but to do so you obviously need things to connect.

I encourage you to set aside time each morning or evening to fill your well, to read inspiring or challenging books, to watch videos or listen to talks, or to otherwise fill your well so that you have something to draw from when engaging in your work.

 

There are a number of new habits I would like to pick up this year but I think I will start with these three:

1. Meditation

It trains the part of your brain that is responsible for willpower and self-control. Basically, meditation gives you the ability to train your mind, be more in control of your emotion, focus on your goals and ultimately – achieve them. Meditation also increases your sense of general well-being which makes you more positive and happier.

2. Excercise

I have an on and off relationship with working out, which, I guess, is not that uncommon. However this year I will make it one of my main priorities to have a more regular and frequent workout routine.

I read somewhere that most people who start sticking to a

fitness regimen will often find themselves adjusting their diet as well
even if they’re told not to. Two birds with one shot sound good to me!
It makes sense because if you’re working your ass off, you’re less likely to eat junk food right after because you know it undoes all your hard work.
Because these two habits basically come in a package together, it requires a lot of willpower to maintain – so if you can make them into full-fledged habits, you’ll be able
to take on smaller habits with ease. The more you train yourself to adopt new habits the easier it gets.
It is also likely that whilst you are working on a new habit, such as exercise and better eating as a result of it, feelings of being tired or foggy are consistently replaced with feeling better with every workout and/or choice of healthier dinner. And if you start feeling better on a day to day basis it makes it much easier to start adopting other good habits. This ability to improve your body’s day-to-day function makes fitness and diet an extremely powerful keystone habit.

3. Trying new things

Keeping your routine fresh will help you stay on track! I am a firm believer of this and whilst working on including more consistent habits of meditation, exercise and diet, I want to make sure to mindfully include new things to mix it everything up.
From cactus water to matcha tea instead of my morning coffee, making your daily routine exciting is the game changer.  It’s easy at first to stick to the same regime, but after a while, you’ll get bored. That’s why you need to switch things up!

It takes discipline & motivation.

In order to be motivated, we have to motivate ourselves every single day.

Motivation is like taking a shower.

Remember that every time you feel you are not and go take a motivational shower asap.

It’s up to you how much you’ll achieve, how far you’ll go or how fast you’ll get there.

Love,
Hewnly

Home Wellness Items That Will Make You Zen

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The design of your home seriously affects your state of mind, and, in turn, your health. Stress — linked to weight gain, depression, and more — is the enemy of good health.It makes sense to start creating a calming oasis at home and here are a few home wellness items that will help you do that.

1    Clean Air Plants

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2    Soothing Scent Candle

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3   Zen Sand Garden

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4    Relaxation Fountain

5    Himalayan Salt Lamp

6    Succulent Terrarium

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7   Amethyst Crystal Paperweight

Love,

Hewnly

50 Quotes that Will Inspire You to Do Anything (3 min read)

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To start the New Year!

“Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence. —Vince Lombardi

Life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. —Charles Swindoll

If you look at what you have in life, you’ll always have more. If you look at what you don’t have in life, you’ll never have enough. —Oprah Winfrey

Remember no one can make you feel inferior without your consent. —Eleanor Roosevelt

I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination. —Jimmy Dean”

Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value. —Albert Einstein

I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions. —Stephen Covey

When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it. —Henry Ford

The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any. —Alice Walker

The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. —Amelia Earhart

It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light. —Aristotle Onassis